Tuesday, June 15, 2010

In the zone

NOTE: I recieved a great comment on yesterday's post about selling obscure cooking recipes by Archangel. If you like using out of the ordinary ways to make some extra change check it out. Well written guide of what and where. Here's the list of recipes they sell, but read their comment for the whole deal on it. Good stuff indeed!

Anything repetitive can get old and boring fast. Somethings you only need to change up just a tad for them to be just as awesome as when they were new. Others you might need to entirely change how you do things to keep interest in them. And sometimes, you just need to be in the right frame of mind. That's what today is about, getting into the zone where you're all fired up and ready to do some awesome something of something to something! Heh, way back when I was leading raids, my call to pull was always shouting "GO DO STUFF TO THINGS!" No need to delay things with something silly like specifics. Pushaw!

Even as much as I love playing the AH, it can get a bit boring and become more of a grind at times. But I know that's mostly because of doing the same thing over and over and not enough inspiration. What I do to keep perspective is keep track of my goals. I go over in my mind the many ways that I can go about them. Come up with other potential avenues to get there. Or just remind myself why I'm doing it in the first place; it's fun!

First there's the obvious one: music. Damned near everybody uses music to get them into the mood for something. For me I prefer energetic music with a groove to it. Not in the typical hip-hop or dance type of groove specifically, but anything that MOVES. Apparently though, there aren't any songs entitled "LETS KICK SOME ASS AND MAKE WOW GOLD ON THE AUCTION HOUSE!" that I'm aware of. And dear god for the sake of all that is good and holy I hope there aren't any. In any case here's a few youtube links to a few songs that I've had on replay lately. I tend to find the odd song here and that that I get hooked on and play it non stop. Yes it gets annoying. Yes it gets annoying to me at times. But dammit, it's just so cool! One is rock-ish, another is heavy, one is electronic, and the last is just plain weird. Most songs are rated PG-13 but I'm sure at least one reader here will have an appreciation for my bizarre tastes in music. Check them out.

I also like to remember my first gold cap personally, I was so proud of myself for achieving that. I also remember when my guild got its first KT kill. KT as in Kael'Thas Sunstrider, NOT the pansie ass bag of bones in naxx. Honestly if you're proud of killing him in the level 80 version of naxx... go away. Unless you did it in all level 70 gear and questing greens, just go. I'm such a friendly guy aren't I. I remember the feeling that I had and know that once I get to where ever it is that I'm going I'll have it just like that again. When I'm thinking that playing the AH is getting a bit old that revs me up and sets me right back on track. Usually with even more determination than before.

Remember me mentioning a while ago about personality traits and the AH? Well if you know yourself well enough that you can consciously identify certain things that make you YOU, then you can use them to your advantage. One of mine is that I can be a spiteful bastard at times. Sometimes without any other reason than just to be spiteful. Granted, that's not the most attractive thing you can say about a person, but if you're aware of it, you can use it can get things done. And fast. But as with anything that falls into the "not so nice" category you should be careful of course as things won't always work out for the better in the long run. Go undercut every seller in every market by 50g just to "stick it to them" and see how much closer to the gold cap you get. Or buy up a billion and five materials for something that sells slow just to make damned sure a competitor won't have any stockpiled mats for the next decade and see what you get left with. A big number in the red, that's what. Tread carefully.

Since I'm obviously all about getting things accomplished though, it can be a good thing in some situations. Example. When somebody tries to work their way into a market that I've fallen in love with or tries to knock down a few niche items that I'm selling, that's when the nice-guy-hat you'll see Stokpile wearing in his armory comes off. Usually replaced with something metal. With horns. And fire. I will vehemently defend my scroll and epic gear markets. They're too much fun to stop working in so I'll very quickly thrash the prices to keep somebody out. Not because it's good for business, but because I love doing it and it's mine. But mostly just because >:D

One other thing that I do to get into the zone of working the AH is reading. Completely unrelated since what I read tends to be on the opposite end of the spectrum that playing an MMO is on. But it gives me something to occupy my thoughts and I'll ponder over what I've read while I play the AH game to give me something to do with my hands. I'm not the type that can stomach sitting still for more than 2.3 seconds at a time without going insane. While I'm at the AH I'll be pouring over what I've read and/or learned and once I'm done with my craft/sell bit I'll have let what I've read sink into the back of my mind to give me a better understanding and "digest" it all if you will.

This is especially useful when you're trying to teach yourself something IRL such as a new language (WoW is actually a good tool for that believe it or not) or refine a skill that you already have. Basically it's forcing your mind to focus on something legitimately productive while your hands are busy at the key board. Sort of killing two birds with one stone. When I'm actually working, I still spend a little bit of time on WoW while I think about my next step to take. And I coincidentally happen to be making large sums of WoW gold while I get some real work done. Cool, huh?

12 comments:

Love the recipe advice. I purchased some of the recipes from the vendor in Stormwind and transfered them over to the Horde side. Tomorrow I shall be analysing how they have done. But it is useful to know that there are more. Tonight as my server is down, I shall be spending time gathering information about recipe locations and profession mats and getting them all written up so I have them in an easy to handle manner and don't have to keep searching through database sites.

Don't get me wrong. Sites like Wowhead are invaluable. I just prefer some of the information I need in a much easier to view manner. If I get it all sorted then I shall have to get them made available for others.

As to personality traits, I recognise two in me that actually are both beneficial and detrimental depending when they are used. For the longest time I have been against paying AH prices for stuff. My view has been why pay such high prices when I can go out and get the items for myself. Because of this I tend to hold off buying things because of the price. Now often, this has done me good because I wait and get things at better prices. But saying that, last night I had some Heavy Borean Leather posted for around 11g per 2. Someone had flooded the first 2 pages with single postings at 3.5g bid/4g buy. I thought I could have bought it all and reposted at my price but I was worried about having the price drop if more people posted and then would have had to relist it all eventually at lower prices and would have lost on deposit costs. That was my thinking then. I then remembered about the day server shutdown so I bid on every single piece. Came back 2 hrs later and logged on to see I had been outbid on most of them and was still being outbid. Then my leather got bought out. I quickly bought any normal borean leather, recrafted it and posted and that went too. And there I was lamenting about not buying out all that other leather.

But, on the flipside I have another trait that is just as bad or good depending on the view. I impulse buy. Not often but enough that I kick myself for it. Its why I try to stay away from ebay. But at times I will see something and then just go and buy it. I did this too last night. I saw a battered hilt going for 9k bid/9.5k buy and was going to just bid. But then I thought the extra 500 is just a couple of days of my normal dailies so I bought it. I reckon my earnings for the last week or so have just gone. And I am now wishing I had hold off for a little longer. Sure I still have plenty of capital but I didn't really need it. However, if I could turn that impulse buying into getting stuff that actually was beneficial. Getting trade goods that are a little over my normal ceiling, then I might still be able to turn a profit. I think I just need to examine the market more.

haha GWAR, they make me laugh a bit :P. Tho I am quite the metal appreciator. Vornagar are actually pretty good. And i agree with you about needing to listen to music while doing relativly boring things in wow. Gets you pumped up indeed!

If someone does the Horde version please, please post.I really want to try this out as I also am on a somewhat depressed server (though Armor Scrolls are keeping the lights on and there is still a trickle of rare gems and glyphs as well).

@ LiamYeah I always liked GWAR, they just always manage to make me laugh. Their new album is made of pure win and concentrated awesome.

@ CharlieThe last band, vornagar, their drummer is the most precise on I've ever heard. The sheer speed and precision is simply astounding. Even if I wasn't into metal, I'd still listen because when you hear perfection it's something special.

@ Mulegirl/undercuts moar because moar!

@ MerlI buy on impulse a lot. But when it comes to the AH it's more based on instincts and knowing that it's going to be worth something or at least not cut me a loss. As for doing the same IRL well, I once bought a full pineapple at the grocery store for no purpose other than I wanted a pineapple. That's the whole reason O.o So I try and control that best I can, but in wow it's easy. There isn't much gear that I can spend on and most mounts/pets require a good deal of effort in addition to just gold.

A little update, I have discovered that there are more recipes I have missed and I will get an updated post as soon as I can but its getting late here. I shall endeavour to have more for you all tomorrow evening.

I recall there are fewer recipes for the Horde list but the difference should not be very big. Use wowhead and check for the recipes the specify the exact name of the vendor and bot just "Vendors". Also be aware that some of the recipes in my list are identical for the Horde side but sold by Horde NPCs. Also places like Booty Bay and Winterspring and their respective vendors are accessible by both Alliance and The Horde.

I just found this site an hour ago, and the content is amazing.But...why is it on a black background? It is so hard to read, my eyes water and burn after a few minutes, I have to stop reading. Can a new reader please request a change of color? Thanks!JakeP

Sorry buddy, the black background is far easier on my eyes! =P The white backgrounds are miserable for me. Guess Stok will have to compromise and go gray? Or he can tell us both to get bent and make it some wild color....

About Me

This blog is about discovering all of the ways to make money in Rift. There are no cheats, hacks, or exploits used in any of my methods.
After amassing a 2 million gold fortune in wow I decided to come over to Rift and see how well I can do there. It is my belief that the game does not matter as much as the methods used and mine have already been proven to work and work well.